The Airway To Everywhere

CHAPTER THREE

Soon after the start of WW II, a press release from Postmaster General Frank C. Walker urged the use of air mail instead of long distance telephone calls so that the trunk lines may be kept open “for any emergency that may arise.”

Telephone companies requested that only the most urgent of calls be made and suggested that use should be made of the excellent overnight coast-to-coast air mail service. During the emergency, many people became aware of All American’s unique air pick-up and were more than willing to do their part to help out during a period of National emergency.

January 1941 saw a 78.9% completion factor on the routes of the Airway to Everywhere. They carried 9,404 lbs. of mail and 3,023 pounds of express. This was impressive when we consider where AAA operated.

February 1941 saw an increase in mail volume to 10,636 pounds and a drop in express volume to only 746 pounds while the completion factor jumped to 90.5%. (I think this trend has continued on into the nineties. If air service doesn’t meet the expectations of the customer, he will find another way to transport his wares. It may take weeks, months or even longer to win back the confidence needed for repeat business. Author)

March 1941 was a better month for mail which totaled 12,760 lbs. While the express started making a slow come back with 845 lbs. The operating percentage increased to 91.9%. The first issue of the “PICK-UP” was circulated to employees as the “house organ” and is the medium used for much of the research for this story. NC2285 was converted from civilian status to pick up plane with all the accessories. New ground stations were installed along route ‘D’ from Pittsburgh north to Jamestown.

April 2, 1941 saw 45 pounds of mail arriving in Wilmington on the morning delivery. There was a rate hearing in April and surveys were underway on extension of AM 49. Mail volume was 14,650 pounds. Express made a comeback to 1,256 lbs. and operating percentage increased to 98.0.

In May, a Technicolor Pick-up movie was released.  West Newton and Masontown, W.Va. were added to Route A on May 5 and Norm Rintoul discovered the crash of a Brewster Buffalo.

During June, Carlisle, Lewistown and Shippensburg were approved for service. A. Felix DuPont, Jr. went on active duty with the Air Corps; Jim Keemmns went into the military, arid Cammy Vinet was transferred to Wilmington. Jack Hawes was the father of a 6 lb., 10 oz. daughter. Mail volume had increased another 1,000 lbs. over April with 15,727 lbs. while express showed a decrease to 1,137 lbs. operating percentage was 96.4 during June.

In July, new service was begun to Slipperyrock, Youngsville, Blairsville, Portage, and Williamsburg. The Railway took over handling of express on the 15^th and there was an immediate increase in volume to 2,7gg pounds for the month. On July 18^th, Triple A participated in the All-Ohio Air Tour. Melvin Kurtz became the father of a 7 lb. daughter. Mail volume was now 17,682 1bs and. operating percentage was nearly perfect at 99 7

August 12, 1941 was the first anniversary of AM 49 and Triple A celebrated accordingly. NC21129 was converted, and painted silver. A 93 mph gale damaged NC21107 at DuPont Field. Mail volume was 18,146 lbs., Express was 5,016 lbs. and the operating percentage was 98.6.

September 14, 1943, was the day AAA made a demonstration at the Newark Air Show. Harry Stringer attended a postmaster’s Convention in Boston on the15^th. On the 29^th, Lewistown, Carlisle, and Shippensburg saw first service. Mail volume was 17,783 lbs., Express dropped to 3,932 lbs. and operating percentage increased to a best yet 99.9%.

In October Ed Musser was appointed Maintenance Superintendent at Pittsburgh and on the 12^th, Chester Jones would be the father of the first son of an AAA employee. Aircraft NC21130 was converted and returned to service. Mail volume was 3,046 lbs. Operating percentage was still high at 97.8%.

November 1941 was when Bill Burkhart recovered from an appendectomy. Mail volume dropped to 14,832 lbs., Express volume decreased only 23 pounds to 3,023. The operating percentage was up to 98.8%.

On December 3, 1941, 229 pounds of mail left Pittsburgh on Route F which wound its way East through Latrobe, Altoona, Gettysburg, Lancaster, Wilmington and terminated at Philadelphia. The application for extension of AM 49 was filed on the 12^th. The Pittsburgh Christmas party was on the 20^th. AAA completed 1,000,000 miles of scheduled flying on the 23rd. On the 24^th, Holger Hoiriis was made Wing Commander of the C.A.P., Fierman Mathieu entered the military and the Wilmington Christmas party was held. AAA carried 17,361 pounds of mail, 2,882 lbs. of Express and had an operating percentage of 91.6.

During 1941, Triple A carried. 41.9 average pounds of mail per trip. Express increased 62% over the previous year, while the national average increase was only 19%. AAA picked up 14,673 average pieces of mail per town during 1941.

An announcement in January 1942 was made concerning the opening of a new Experimental and Development annex at Wilmington. The engineers and draftsmen were well pleased with the new well-lit quarters.

NC21107, the original AAA pick-up plane was transferred to Wilmington as an experimental ship where she continued her pioneer work in the development of air pick-up.

An experiment by Noah A. McCray of Buckhannon, W.Va. proved to be very successful. He removed the lower pole section at his pick-up station, which lowered the station from 20 to 12 feet above the ground. He was of the opinion that the pilot could judge his distance better with the lower station and said that the hook still missed the ground by a good 10 feet.

Following is a, “Press Release” made by the War Department Bureau of Public Relations on the All American Glider Pick-Up demonstration at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, June 4-5, 1942:

“Picking up gliders from the ground by an airplane flying at more than 100 miles per hour has been successfully demonstrated at the Army Air Forces Materiel Center, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio; it was announced today by the War Department.”

“High Army Air Force Officers who witnessed and participated in the glider pick-up demonstration flights pronounced them highly successful and indicated that the system may be utilized to speed up the training program for glider pilots recently inaugurated by the Army Air Forces.”

“Using this pick-up system, training gliders can be picked up from a stationary position on the ground by a plane in flight and towed until they gain sufficient altitude to be released by the glider pilot. The airplane then circles and makes another pick-up of a waiting glider. In this way, gliders can be picked up at the rate of one about every three minutes.”

“The equipment demonstrated at Wright Field was designed for picking up light training gliders and the demonstrations so far have been limited to gliders of this type.”

“The inauguration of the non-stop glider pick-up system will greatly simplify and speed up an important phase of the new program of training glider pilots urgently needed by the Army Air Forces by eliminating the need for an airplane to take off every time a glider is taken aloft, for a training flight.”

“The glider used in the Wright Field demonstrations was an XTG-3, and the pick -ups were made by a Stinson light monoplane. In practice pick-ups preceding the demonstrations, a Piper Cub airplane with the propeller removed was used in place of the glider.”

“At the controls of the glider during the first non-stop pick-up was Colonel F.H. Dent, Air Corps Chief of the Experimental Glider Unit at Wright Field, who expressed himself as being entirely satisfied with its operation.”

“Succeeding pick-up flights were made by several young flying officers of the Glider Unit, among them Second Lieutenant Charles H. Decker, one of the four American possessors of the Golden “C” Certificate of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. The Golden “C” is awarded to glider and soaring pilots who have met a number of rigid requirements, among them the piloting of a glider to an altitude of 10,000 feet and having soared for a distance of at least 200 miles.”

“Under the pick-up system the glider is placed about 200 feet back of two uprights, between which a tow-line is placed. Inside the cabin of the airplane which is making the pick-up is a revolving reel, equipped with a built-in brake which carries the tow-line cable and grapple hook.”

“The tow plane comes in and as it approaches the pick-up ground station, the pilot levels off much in the same manner as he would in making a landing, except that his speed is much greater, anywhere from 95 to 120 miles per hour. He lowers the hook at the end catches the suspended tow-line. At the moment of contact, with the airplane from 12 to 14 feet from the ground, the cable reel inside the plane is permitted to spin freely to pay out additional tow-cable to cushion the initial load imposed by the dead weight of the glider on the ground. Some of the shock is also taken up by the tow-line it-self which is made of nylon to give maximum strength with great resilience.

“Gradually the reel-brake is applied, the glider accelerates smoothly, and by the time the speeding tow-plane has leveled off, the glider is airborne. Then the brake is fully locked and the glider is in full tow. When the glider has gained sufficient, altitude the glider pilot cuts himself loose. If at any time while the glider is in tow the acceleration exceeds 1G, an automatic shock absorber goes into action.”

“During the demonstrations at Wright Field, although the airplane made the pick-ups at about 100 miles per hour, there was no noticeable shock or strain on either the airplane or the glider.”

”With further developments of this launching technique, using multi-engine airplanes as tow-planes, and employing heavier reels, tow-cables and brakes, its application to the Army Air Force’s heaviest transport gliders is contemplated. Similarly, the system may eventually be adapted to the pick-up of large commercial freight, and passenger glider trains.”

All American had experimented successfully with this technique on May 30, 1942 when the first, “full fledged” airplane was picked up by another airplane in flight. There was no glider available for the test so a Piper Cub, NX42964  (c/n 15323 was still on the Federal Aircraft Register in 1985 based at Reading, PA) was used in place of a glider. A burden release was attached to the propeller hub after the removal of same.  No other structural changes were made.

After preliminary tests, such as tow-offs from the ground, the ground station was set-up.  With All American President Richard C. DuPont at the controls of the Cub; the history making pick-up was made. Observers on the ground could see no evidence of shock or strain on the Cub or the Stinson.  These facts were verified by Mr. DuPont and accelerometers in both the Cub and Stinson pick-up plane.  The meters recorded a maximum .75g for the entire operation.

The tests continued through Sunday and on Monday June 1, 1942, yet, another page of history was filled by Triple A when Mr. DuPont added a passenger in the Cub for testing.  Company officials who witnessed the safety of this operation clamored to be first to ride along with Mr. DuPont.

So as to please most of them, several flights were made, carrying in order:  Arthur R. Schultz, chief engineer; Henry A. Wise, secretary; Charles M. Wendt, treasurer; Harry R. Stringer, vice president; Don Seevers, Editor of the company paper, and Walter Setz, of the engineering department.

The Army Air Force was in urgent need of qualified pilots for the ever-expanding Army Cargo program.  All American was right, there in August 1942 to aid their country.  They opened an instrument training school at the Wilmington base.  Instrument training was given in Link Trainers along with ground training. Students advanced to the real thing with a Lockheed Lodestar NC18139 based at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport.  Students were placed with the various airlines flying Army cargo flights after graduation from the Lockheed Lodestar.  Many of the pilots turned out by All American went on to fly in such noted events as the China, India, Burma Hump Theatre and the famous “Shangri-La Rescue”.
By the end of 1942, All American’s family totaled 200 people. Much of the addition of personnel was due to the increased role played by AAA in the pilot training field as well as the research and development of gliders for military use

On the following page, you will see a letter written to Vic Yesulaites and probably every AAA employee.  It speaks for itself.

Richard DuPont was now in charge of the complete glider program of the Army Air Forces.  He would guide the glider program to its fullest potential as he witnessed its use as a warplane in the invasion of Sicily.  He was convinced of the value of gliders for combat operations during wartime.  Soon after, he returned to California where he assisted in the testing of new military gliders.  It was here on September 11, 1942 that AAA and the Nation lost a truly great, man. Richard’s glider entered a spin and when he bailed out, his parachute malfunctioned.

His posthumous award of the Distinguished Service Award reads:  “Mr. DuPont displayed exceptional professional ability and inspiring leadership in planning and supervising the effective utilization of military gliders and related equipment.  Under his skillful direction full exploitation of the large glider for airborne operations was rapidly attained.  He effected important changes in training technique which constituted practical application of current combat requirements personally observed in the Sicilian campaign”.

“Charged with the overall supervision of research in the field of unpowered flight, he maintained dose coor5ination with civilian contractors in their efforts to improve glider equipment”.

The press release from the War Department went on to state “his experience coupled with his intelligent appraisal of immediate requirements of the glider program of the Army Air Forces, contributed materially to the successful accomplishment of a mission of the greatest importance to the war effort of the United States Government”.

When the Board of Directors of the Air Transport Association had a meeting on September 23, 1943, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

“Resolved that the Association express to the family of Richard C. DuPont and to the personnel of All American Aviation, Inc., its deepest sympathy, and that there should be recorded the Association’s Appreciation for the vision, skill, courage and disinterested patriotism of Richard C. DuPont in his many services to his country and to the progress of aeronautics”.

Mrs. Allaire C. DuPont was elected a member of the Board of Directors of Triple A after Richard’s untimely death.  She had long been interested in aviation having held both powered and glider plane ratings for several years.  She had over 600 hours logged in powered flight and had participated in many of the major glider meets held at Elmira, NY during the 1934-35 seasons, she held the National Women’s duration record for soaring gliders.

Other directors elected at the stockholder’s meeting in 1943 were H. R. Bazely, Charles F. Benzel, W. Sam Carpenter III, Frank K. Donohue and Charles M. Wendt of Wilmington and Arthur P. Davis, George S. Leisure and Grover Loening of New York.

All American had been experimenting with the idea of a human pick-up by first experimenting with a larab, then a chimp.  The first human was picked up at Wright Field during September 191g.  More experimentation continued for a year with equipment designed to be dropped to downed airmen and an instruction booklet for those unfamiliar with the pick-up method of rescue.  The first family was picked-up on November 19, 1943 on Trip 6. There was a mother and four children. They were picked up at Grove City and delivered at Franklin, PA.  The crew on this history-making flight included Chief Pilot Tommy Kincheloe and Flight Mechanic Ralph Monaco.  It was reported that, the “mother mouse and four baby mice” made the trip in good health.

During 1943, these were some of the events that meant the most to AAA:

Triple A completed their 2 and  half millionth mile of pick-up flying, Norm Rintoul entered the AAF making Tommy Kincheloe Chief Pilot, an operations average of 93.5; further developments in the glider pick-up technique and. an increase in the monthly mail volume from 24,758 pounds in January to well over 50,000 pounds.

Some of the things from the “Pick-Up that AAA’ers had to look forward to in the coming year were to record such events as the fall of the Axis, the end of gasoline and food ration; the production of commercial airplanes and the inauguration of many new pick-up routes, but regardless of what, the new year was to bring, they were sure that every Triple A’er would do his part so they could at least report “a good job well done”.

On February 22, 1944 Vic “Mad Lithuanian” Yesulaites married Miss Frances Powell of Pittston, Pa.  He had finally been roped and tied and everyone at AAA was happy.

All American had been entertaining thoughts of carrying passengers on pick-up runs.  When James J. Strebig Aviation Editor for the Associated Press and Edward J. Slattery, Jr., Chief of the Civil Aeronautics 3oard’s Information Bureau visited the Pittsburgh operations base in early 1944, they got to fly over two pick-up routes.

After his flight, Mr. Strebig stated . . . “This is a practical way to link the Nation’s main street communities for air travelers just as, for the past five years, 117 towns and cities in six states have been linked for the mail”.

On March 1, 1944, All American preferred stockholders received their first dividend check.  All the bills had been paid at the end of 1943 and Triple A had $244,000.00 in the bank.  Net profit for the period June Jo, ig4g to December 30, 1944 was in excess of $60,000.00.  They correctly assumed that a backlog of orders and arrangements for services appeared to provide for a continuation of service at the accustomed level.

In the Annual Report of All American Aviation, Inc., issued to the stockholders, Halsey R. Bazley, President reported that the operations for the year ended June 30, 1944, were the largest in the company’s history, resulting in a net income of $238,587.50 after all charges equivalent to 78 cents per share on the 266,490 shares of common stock outstanding after preferred dividend requirements.  For the previous year, he reported, net, income was $27,689.68 or 11 cents per share.

Current assets at, the end of 1944 were $1,198,262.22 and liabilities were $322,892.89 as compared with $772,358.09 and $801,25.46 respectively for the previous year.  The company’s net working capital increased $904,368.70. Kost of the improvement in the company’s financial position was due to the sale of 26,218 shares of four per cent, convertible non-cumulative preferred stock which yielded the company net proceeds of $609,352.01 after underwriting, legal and registration expenses, and the increase in the company’s net income for the year.

Major Bazley praised his employees in the report saying, “This report would be incomplete without commendation to the stockholders of the loyalty and. unstinting efforts of All American employees, without whose contributions the gratifying progress of the past, year could not have been accomplished.  With this organization and its experience, we look forward to continued expansion and progress”.

The commercial transport division of AAA showed a lot of growth and progress during the period.  Air Mail traffic increased 72.7% over 1943 and Air Express 21%.

The military cargo service provided by All American to the Army Air Forces terminated July 15, 1944.  Their single engine cargo planes flew 1,738,368 miles carrying 2,461,000 pounds of cargo without serious loss or damage to equipment, or cargo over the two year operating term.

For All American Aviation, Inc., who helped train countless glider pilots in the U. S., who participated in D-Day operations in France and operated behind enemy lines in Burma while operating their innovative and unique Air Mail and Express pick-up service undaunted, there was a bright future.  Many changes were coming as the passing years would see “The Airway to Everywhere” grow and grow and grow. The next chapter in this continuing saga will begin assembling the pieces of a puzzle which would be Allegheny Airlines in 1978.  The war ends and airlines begin.

Copyright 2004-2006  M C Pyles